Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has appointed James Gasco head of Canada for Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, effective Sept. 1, 2023. Gasco succeeds Adrian Hall, who moves to London to become Head UK, Ireland, South Africa, and EMEA Wholesale for Swiss…
Canada’s solvency regulator will take a closer look at earthquake risk and the minimum capital test (MCT) for P&C insurers, an executive from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) said during an industry event last week. Earthquake…
Although pricing caught most people’s attention during the January reinsurance renewal season, the terms and conditions were restricted, contributing to why Canada’s primary insurers are retaining more risk for high-frequency secondary perils. “Over the last number of years, there’s been…
Canada’s primary insurers will need to run at sustained combined operating ratios of 95% or lower in the future in order to withstand future NatCat losses (and the cost of reinsuring them), without having to pass costs on to consumers,…
Canadian insurers, like their U.S. counterparts, may see some better underwriting results this year. In the U.S., property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry underwriting results are likely to improve during 2023, in response to significant premium increases in underperforming automobile…
Coming out of the pandemic, the global economic environment still contains two ingredients for ongoing hard market conditions in Canada’s P&C insurance sector — high inflation, and a lack of global reinsurance capacity. “If you look at the picture behind…
Editor’s Note: This updated version of the article corrects the industry’s net investment income from -$61,400 to -$61.4 million. And $1.1 million OCI has been updated to $1.1 billion. Canadian Underwriter apologizes for the errors. A combined ratio of…
The economic parameters that marked a tough reinsurance cycle in 2023 won’t be going anywhere in the next year, experts predict in a Canadian Underwriter webinar. However, the extreme rate increases that insurers saw this year won’t be sustainable…
An exceedingly tough reinsurance cycle saw insurers quoted double digit rate increases upon the Jan. 1 2023 renewal. Some portfolios without a significant loss history saw increases of 25% to 30%, while other portfolios with losses saw their reinsurance rate…
A significant rise in construction projects being submitted in Canada means lead underwriting time is critical, according to a 2023 Q1 Global Construction Rate Trend Report from WTW. “Staffing shortages and underwriting approval processes are causing delays in quote turn-around,”…
Canada’s federal government finally put numbers to a low-cost flood insurance program, committing $31.7 million over three years to protect households at high risk of flooding and without access to adequate insurance. Details about the program remain up for discussion,…
Inflation took a small bite of out of global reinsurers’ generally profitable combined ratios, and rising interest rates made a 27% dent in the reinsurers’ shareholder equity, but overall the global reinsurance sector came out of 2022 in decent shape,…